Colorful
by probablynothuman
Summary: Roman is the bullied bravado-fueled theater kid with a fixation on Disney and way too much time on his hands. Virgil is the emo, secretly strong theater tech with a love for cooking and friends he wouldn't trade for the world. When these two find out they're soulmates, their worlds are flipped upside down and inside out more times than they can count. Can they cling onto their love


p id="docs-internal-guid-eb32cf70-7fff-0404-6d9f-b7f110675bad" dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman Stokes winced, hissing in pain as he was slammed against the lockers in passing. He felt a tinge of sympathy, knowing his soulmate was able to feel his pain as well. He was able to feel theirs. He had felt it every time they stubbed their toe or tripped over something. But it wasn't as if he could control the way the school bully, James, treated him any more than he could control the fact that his soulmate felt his pain. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Leave me the fuck alone," Roman said with more bravado than he felt. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He pushed James back, causing him to collide with his friend. The two of them turned to him, and he froze in a moment of panic, his eyes widening, before he squared his shoulders, fists raised to defend himself. He whispered a silent apology that he knew his soulmate couldn't hear before the first hit landed. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"***/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil Mercer was walking down the hallway quickly when he felt the pain. It trickled along his back and sides like he'd been splashed with boiling water. He stuttered in his steps, leaning against the lockers as he tried to breathe away the pain. His soulmate had to be, and he meant this with love, an idiot. Someone with an insane amount of bravado-fueled stupidity. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The pain hit more intensely on his cheek before rapidly increasing and spreading all over him. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What the hell was going on? /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Was his soulmate in a fight, or… or worse?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He could barely stand, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him as he leaned back with more force against the wall, clutching the front of his shirt as if that would help him be able to catch his breath. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Being as lost in the pain as he was, he scarcely registered the students rushing past him to get a teacher. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Hardly noticed being ushered into the nearest classroom by his best friend, Remy, to recover. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He was too distracted to care./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Later, he would just be written a pass, as this sort of thing happened often with students. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Come on, babe," Remy murmured, concern seeping into his voice as he helped Virgil to sit down in one of the chairs in the theater classroom. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The pain was subsiding, though it was still definitely there - a dull, constant ache - but Virgil allowed himself to be led to the seat. He was still highly anxious, his mind flooding him with images of different scenarios of what could have happened to his soulmate. He could have gotten into a car accident, or gotten beaten up, or fallen down a flight of stairs. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I… I'm okay now," he stuttered out, giving a small, shaky smile up to Remy to thank him./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"***/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman had been pulled away from James by a teacher before he'd so much as managed to get one punch in. A second teacher rushed forward and led James and his friend to the principal's office with hushed chastisements. The teacher who had pulled Roman away decided against sending him to the principal's office as well, claiming that if he wanted to see him, he would simply call, and she sent Roman to class. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He rushed to the theatre classroom, not wanting to be even later than he already was. When he burst in, he saw - amongst all the other students, who were huddled around, watching with caution and intrigue the way one does when anything interesting happens in high school - Virgil. Roman nodded a quick hello, wondering why he and Remy were in here, considering they weren't in this class, before looking to the teacher. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry I'm late, I…" he motioned to the bruise already beginning to blossom in varying shades of purple and red on his cheek. "You know." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil shifted slightly in his seat when he saw Roman's bruise; he didn't like when anyone from their friend group got hurt, but Roman seemed to get hurt more often than the others. He wished he was around to stop it when it happened… /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He got shakily to his feet, gripping Remy's arm for support, and stepped closer to Roman, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Another fight, Princey? What did they do? Let me see." He knew it was nowhere near his place to be the worried mom-friend, but he couldn't exactly help it. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman waved his hand in an attempt to brush away Virgil's worries that he was so used to by now. Not that he would admit it if you asked him, but he actually kind of liked that the emo was worried about him. He knew he wasn't Virgil's closest friend in the group - that would be Remy, with Patton as a close second - but when he got worried like this, Roman knew that he at least cared./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's nothing major. I think I've got a new bruise on my back from the lockers, but they only got a couple hits in before it was broken up." His brows pulled together at the unsteadiness of Virgil's stance and the way he had to grip onto Remy like he was afraid his knees would buckle out from under him. "Are you okay?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah. I'm fi-ine," he faltered./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It couldn't be… could it? /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was no way. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Just a coincidence. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yeah./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Even so, Roman eyed him doubtfully for a second, the wavering in his voice not exactly the most convincing. He was sure Virgil was lying, but he wasn't about to call him out, especially in front of all these students and the teacher. Besides, he was under no obligation to tell Roman everything - or anything, for that matter. They hardly spoke outside of class and rehearsal. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Just stop doing stupid stuff before they actually have to use that understudy of yours," he joked playfully, a rare smile tugging at the corners of his lips before he turned to the teacher. "Can Rem and I get a pass?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The teacher nodded and quickly wrote a pass for the both of them and handed it to Virgil before turning to Roman to assess whether or not he needed to go to the nurse's office. Roman eyed Virgil a moment longer, wanting to say something further, but eventually sighed silently and nodded slightly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks," Virgil mumbled to the teacher, shifting slightly under Roman's gaze. That seemed to be a thing with them… Always looking, never talking. "Bye, Ro." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil led Remy - who chuckled at his insistence - out of the classroom like the devil himself was on his heels. He was just glad that Roman hadn't asked why he was in there. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Several days passed, and Virgil had nearly managed to convince himself that the thing with Roman had been merely a coincidence. Their friend group sat together at lunch, each of them a different sort of theater kid. Virgil, although he had nearly convinced himself, was still suspicious, watching Roman carefully as lunch crawled by at a sluggish pace. Making up his mind to conduct a little experiment - as Logan would put it - he pinched his thigh under the table. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman felt a jolt of pain flood into his thigh, as if he had been pinched - hard - and he reached under the table, rubbing at the pained skin. It definitely wasn't the worst pain he'd ever felt, so he didn't bother dwelling on it. He did, however, glance towards Virgil. He had had his own suspicions about Virgil, specifically about why he looked so out of it every time Roman got into a fight. There couldn't have been /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"that many/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" coincidences… could there?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Oh no/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"… Virgil thought as Roman looked straight at him, their eyes locking together for a moment before Virgil looked away. If they were… soulmates, what were they going to do about it?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"When he saw the dread - or was that panic? - cross Virgil's face, Roman froze. Was Virgil his… no… no, that was crazy. They had been friends for a year and a half, surely he would have noticed - though, that /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"did/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" explain why Virgil was so affected when Roman fought. Oh God… Virgil felt all of Roman's pain. He had felt bad enough when his soulmate was a stranger he had yet to meet, but knowing that it was one of his friends… /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Well, there was only one way to test whether or not he really was. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He pinched his thigh as hard as he could, and when Virgil's eyes widened at the pain shooting up his thigh, flinching hard enough that it was visible, he knew. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Virgil, can I talk to you about something?" Roman asked suddenly, unintentionally interrupting Logan, who had been talking to the group about something he had found interesting in class. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"If Virgil was his soulmate - and it didn't feel so much like an /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"if/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" anymore - they needed to talk about what they were going to do about that. He had never stopped to view Virgil in a romantic way - the emo wasn't exactly his type - but he didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil swallowed thickly before squeaking out a "Yes" and getting up from the table./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He was caught. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Remy looked up at him in confusion, wondering what was going on and why Roman wanted to talk to him, but he didn't say anything about it as Virgil followed Roman out into the hallway. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The one thing that gave Virgil the most anxiety in life had been his soulmate. He'd been worried about whether or not they would like him, whether or not they would be as compatible as everyone claimed soulmates inherently were. While he wasn't exactly complaining on the choice - having had the smallest bit of a crush on the actor - he was absolutely at a complete loss of what to do. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He had always imagined it… different?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously once they reached the hallway and he turned to Virgil. He opened his mouth to speak and found himself at a sudden loss for words. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What could he even say?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He had been looking forward to meeting his soulmate his entire life, had pictured a big, sweepingly romantic moment like in the movies. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not this./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You…" he began after a moment of anxious silence. "Are you my soulmate, Virgil?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil averted his eyes, chewing on his lip - though not hard enough to hurt. Roman seemed a little… disappointed? Maybe that wasn't the right word, but he most certainly didn't seem excited about the prospect of being Virgil's soulmate. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" For a second that seemed to last an eternity, he debated whether or not he should deny it, but he realized that the lie would be too much to keep up with and it would be too obvious. With a resolved sigh, he pinched his hand by way of response, which caused Roman to flinch slightly and rub the back of his hand, over the faint red mark, to ease the pain. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry I'm not exactly your Prince Charming," he hummed softly with a shrug. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman hated how upset Virgil looked… or maybe 'upset' wasn't right, either…/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I never said there was anything wrong with you being my soulmate. I just… it's not what I imagined." He cringed visibly at his own words, knowing that they weren't coming out right. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He didn't want to hurt Virgil's feelings, but a part of him knew that Virgil understood. Life never played out exactly how anyone imagined it would. It wasn't like they had been best friends and found out in some big climactic moment. They were hardly more than acquaintances, and they had found out in a cafeteria while half-heartedly listening to Logan ramble on about star clusters. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Should we… I don't know…" Virgil rubbed his arm nervously, glad not for the first time in his life for the oversized hoodie he wore that he could hide behind in moments like this where he felt particularly vulnerable. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman smiled softly, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side as he looked at Virgil. He found it endearing in this moment that he was nervous, and were they closer friends, he would definitely reach out to touch him to calm his nerves. "Should we give this soulmate thing a shot? Attempt to date? We don't have to if you're uncomfortable with the idea."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The emo's heart fluttered in his chest with some emotion he couldn't quite discern, and he gave a shy half-smile, meeting Roman's eyes, practically glowing. "I'd like that," he admitted, and immediately inwardly cursed himself./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"God, what kind of reply was that?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I'd like that/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Pssh. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Someone just fucking /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"smite/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" him already. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A small smile tugged at the corners of Roman's lips and he reached towards Virgil's hand after a moment of hesitation, taking it in his own, moving slowly enough that if Virgil so wished, he could pull away. However, he didn't - his eyes widening a little instead, his cheeks flushing red. He accepted the actor's hand, enjoying the feeling and warmth of their fingers threading together. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Roman's smile grew to a grin as a light blush spread across his cheeks, and he nodded towards the cafeteria. "Shall we?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a darker blush and a nod of his head, Virgil followed Roman back into the cafeteria to rejoin their friends. When they entered and took their seats - well, Virgil took a new seat at Roman's side rather than between Remy and Logan - Patton eyed them with a small, knowing smirk. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Interesting conversation, kiddos?" he mused with a playfully teasing tone to his voice. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 22.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Virgil rolled his eyes, chuckling as he squeezed Roman's hand a little tighter and Roman nodded. Rehearsal was going to be fun…/span/p 


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